Kent School District safety services outlines cameras, training and incident trends
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Summary
Safety services reviewed the district’s emergency operations center, camera and access-control investments, patrol fleet, training partnerships, and multi-year incident tracking. Officials said most incident categories show small fluctuations and highlighted investments in training, bleeding-control kits and collaborative work with local law enforcement.
Kent School District safety services briefed the board on Dec. 10 about operational capabilities and incident trends, highlighting investments in monitoring, training and community partnerships.
Assistant Director Tim Kovich described the district’s emergency operations center that consolidates camera feeds, mapping, and incident communications. Kovich said the district maintains more than 2,800 cameras and over 200 access-control doors, and operates a patrol fleet along with contracted school resource officers from the City of Kent for targeted high schools. He credited board-approved investments and taxpayer-supported bond projects for the system upgrades.
Kovich also discussed training and prevention work: the district participates in state and regional training developed for school environments, partners with law enforcement on de-escalation and use-of-force training, conducts stop‑the‑bleed and AED programming, and runs an annual training academy before the school year.
On incident data, safety services presented multi-year counts for categories such as assaults, fights, drugs and alcohol, tobacco/vaping, weapons and property crimes. Kovich said some categories show small year-to-year increases or decreases but overall the district is roughly comparable to the same point last year. He highlighted that many safety incidents are identified through relationships between safety officers and students, and emphasized the role of officers as mentors and coaches that can help prevent escalation.
Board members asked about vaping-detection technology, equity in access to transportation and supports, restroom closures and the use of managerial discretion for property-return policies. Kovich said sensor pilots can detect volatile chemicals and THC traces in some settings but that many incidents are still handled as tobacco violations for record-keeping and educational response. He noted collaborative communications with neighboring jurisdictions (Covington, Renton) and with King County for training and operational support.
What's next: Safety services will continue training partnerships and monitor incident categories for trends; board members requested further student engagement on issues such as restroom access and asked staff to consider student-led input in follow-up sessions.